Bees approach the Championship turn having proved on their day that they are one of the most exhilarating sides in professional rugby.
Their pack boasts an athletic and energetic back five, they have one of the best wingers in the division and a deadly mindset in a broken-field.
Having added the little conductor Mark Woodrow to complement the raw talent of John Brake at half-back, Russell Earnshaw has built a team capable of scoring from anywhere.
Unfortunately for everyone at Damson Park those days tend to operate on a lunar cycle and with just two wins this season, they remain in the all too familiar position at the foot of the table.
Their problems were neatly wrapped up in last Sunday’s defeat to Bedford when, for half-an-hour, they cut through an admittedly weakened Blues side, more readily than Worcester and London Welsh had in previous weeks.
Two pieces of turnover ball were taken the distance by Brake and Mike Denbee as Bees constructed a 10-point lead and seemed able to advance at will.
However, for the next 50 minutes they were pretty impotent. As possession dried up and their attacking opportunities dwindled to a trickle, they became ever more frantic and simply handed the visitors the initiative.
It’s all very well playing a high-paced off-load game but you also have to be able to shut things down and against Bedford and Moseley they palpably failed to do that.
To be fair, on Sunday they were without Semisi Taulava, their giant Tongan second row who has proved one of the finds of the summer.
The former Waikato lock is the keystone to their off-loading and in the victory over Esher was at the heart of everything Bees did.
With support runners swarming around, his ability to keep the ball out of contact and off the ground was harnessed to scintillating effect. His return to fitness is crucial now and will become even more so when the grounds become heavier.
The other noteworthy contributor has been Jack Preece, of whom the rugby gods must have been thinking when they conceived the role of openside flanker.
There is more than a little of the Neil Back about Preece who, in a game roamed by behemoths, has turned his stature into a weapon as he niggles and nicks his way through matches.
If Mark Woodrow was the brain and the feet of the win at Bristol, the 21-year-old was its heartbeat. It’s just that Bees need to shine more than once in a blue moon.
